Hunt Me Down, Stripe Me Bare
by Salve-SiS
Summary: Sarah's life is saved by a woman who dies in her place, leaving behind two children who are then taken in by Joel and his family as a way of repayment. (AU) (Drabble Series)
1. July 3, 2013

{July 3, 2013; 9:45 p.m.}

Adriana De La Rosa was _not _in a good mood. Of course, what kind of mother would she be if she wasn't the least bit put off by the fact that her only daughter has been lying to her face for the past month? And that wasn't the only thing bothering Adrianna. The air conditioner's been broken for the last three days, which meant she's had to live the last few days in a stuffy, cramped, _scorching _apartment with her _'gets especially hot headed in high temperature' _husband, who as a matter of fact, won't be home until late tonight, leaving all of the housework for Adrianna to suffer through with no help. And of course, her sons couldn't help her, they were too busy playing _esos video juegos ridiculo! _

She slammed the dish she'd been scrubbing into the rack with more than necessary force. "Simon?" She called out for her oldest son. _"Simon!" _

Her oldest son came to the kitchen, with that usual glint of boredom in his eyes. "_Que, Mama?" _He asked.

"When is your sister coming home?"

"She said something about going out with Greg," he said, with a grimace. Apparently the idea of his younger sister dating didn't appeal to him. "So I'm guessing…late?"

"Ay, _que nina…_" Adrianna continued to mutter angrily under her breath, turning back to the dishes in the sink. "_Digame cuando regresa, _okay?"

"Okay," the teen shrugged and left his mother alone in the kitchen.

Five minutes later, she heard the front door open and her son yell, "Mama!"

"I'm coming!" She called out, almost stomping to the living room. There her daughter was, standing near the doorway all dressed up, her cheeks flushed because of what, she didn't even know-she'd have to ask later.

"What happened, _Mami?" _She asked, for her part looking confused.

"Guadalupe, why didn't you tell me you were going to summer school?"

Guadalupe froze. "Um…"

Sitting on the couch with their younger brother, Simon chuckled. "Someone's in trouble," he sighed.

"Hey," Adrianna snapped her fingers and pointed at his room. "Leave. This is between me and your sister."

"And miss the what is sure to be warm and fuzzy exchange between mother and daughter?"

"_Simon," _

"Fine, fine." He left for his room, his brother trailing after him.

Guadalupe opened her mouth as soon as they were out of sight. "_Mami_-"

"Save it," her mother cut her off. "You're grounded for one month: two weeks for lying to me, and two weeks for failing English. How do you even _fail _English, Guadalupe? All you do is read and write! You've been doing it since kindergarten!"

"It's a lot more than just reading and writing, _Mami! _You have to…You have to…ugh, I didn't read any of the books, okay?"

"_Y porque no?" _

"_Porque no me gusta leer, Mama!" _Her daughter cried out. "I end up-_Me queda dormido siempre que trato!" _

"_No me importe si no te gustas a leer. Tienes que a hacerlo para que pasas la ano. Pero no le hacistes, y ahora por tu pereza no vas a hacer nada diverto por una mes. _That means no computer, no cell phone, no video games, no going out with friends!"

"Mom!"

"Now go to your room, pick up a book, and read."

"But-"

"_Ahora." _There was no room for arguments in her voice.

Glaring at her mother and her body stiff, Guadalupe went to her room, slamming the door closed.

Her mother dropped onto the couch, dropping her head into her outstretched palms. Sighing to her herself, Adrianna only had one thought on her mind.

She couldn't wait for Alberto to come home.


	2. July 3, 2013: Part II

{10:33 p.m.}

"Ugh!" Guadalupe squealed, throwing one of her pillows across her small bedroom. From the other side, her brothers were huddled on the bottom mattress of their bunk bed, reading one of Juan's Batman comics.

"Aren't you too old for a temper tantrum?" Simon looked up from the comic book, a smile making its way on his lips.

"Be quiet, Simon. Can't you see I'm busy throwing a tantrum?" She emphasized the word 'tantrum' as she grabbed another one of her pillows and proceeded to whack her bed with it. "I can't believe I'm grounded for a month. What am I supposed to do in this apartment for the next month?"

"Read?"

"Are you kidding? Every time I try, I end up texting up my friends for help on figuring what the heck is going on and then we end up talking about other things." She dropped her cushiony weapon of destruction to the floor and frowned.

"You're not gonna have that problem anymore, since _Mama _said no cellphone." Simon pointed out. At his sister's distressed expression, he sighed. "How about this; you teach Juan how to read. That way you can tell _Mama _you're getting more involved with literature."

"Is Lupe going to teach me how to read?" their little brother's curiosity piqued, he looked at Lupe with his wide, innocent-tinted brown eyes. "I want to read."

Guadalupe was about to answer _no, _but at Juan's pleading gaze, she ended up saying, "Yeah, I'm gonna teach you. We'll start tomorrow, okay?"

Juan looked ready to protest, but at his brother's stern gaze he nodded his acceptance. "Okay."

It wasn't long until little Juan fell asleep against Simon's chest. Chuckling to himself, Simon tucked him into his bed, making sure not to bury him in blankets. "Kid's fucking tired." He said. He glanced at his sister. "What about you? You still fucked over lockdown?"

"What do you think?" Guadalupe muttered. She lay on her bed, her legs crossed and her eyebrows furrowed. "Darn it, how the heck am I supposed to have fun if I'm grounded?"

"Eh, you'll figure it out." Simon tried to assure Guadalupe. When she didn't respond, he moved on to a different topic. "Hey, anyway, you heard about what's been happening with all those people in the hospital? More and more people are getting sick."

"Yeah, Greg told me about that…if you ask me, they're probably just looking for somewhere cool to hang around until this heat spell dies down. Man, that hospital is always so cold…Maybe we should fake being sick until _Papa _gets the air conditioner fixed up." She smiled at the seventeen year old, but faltered at his dark expression. "Don't worry big bro. I'm sure it's nothing serious."

"You don't know that," he said. "And I heard some of Valencia's friends talking…none of the doctors can figure out what the fuck is wrong with any of them…"

"You worry too much, _hermano._"

"Maybe," but there was still doubt in his voice. He shook his head. "Fuck it, I'm going to play some more Ratchet and Clank."

"_Mama _won't get mad?"

"Hey, I got straight 'B's on my report card." He said, grinning back at his sister as he left the room.

Guadalupe stuck her tongue out at his retreating back. "Jerk!" She yelled out.


	3. July 3, 2013: Part III

{11: 20 p.m}

After Simon finished his gaming, he tucked Juan into bed, went over to Lupe's sleeping figure and made sure she lay comfortably on her bed. He peeked out of their room and saw that his mother was engrossed with the novella streaming on their television. He slowly closed the door and plopped to the floor. He rummaged under his bed with his head no longer visible before dragging himself back up with a large box in his head. He took out the key from his pocket and unlocked the item. Sighing, he picked up one of the more fragile items in the storage box, and stared at it. All he had to do was take off the safety and the pin, and everyone within the radius would die-or at least be severely injured.

There were a handful of other grenades in there, along with five guns, one for each member of the family. It cost him of all the money he'd managed to save up the last two years, but if something happened, hey. Better safe than sorry, right?

He was over at his girlfriend's house a few weeks ago when they overhead her older sister, Valencia, on her cell phone, talking urgently to whoever was on the other end. The couple was quick to interrogate her, but she insisted that everything was fine. Jennifer shrugged it off, but Simon wasn't known as the stubborn one in the family for nothing. He waited until Jen went upstairs to get ready for their date, and then pursued to badger Valencia until she finally gave in.

According to her, there were more and more people being admitted to the hospital with increasingly strange symptoms; heightened senses and physical capabilities, boils on their bodies, etc. "If I didn't know any either, I'd think they were becoming monsters of something," Valencia laughed it off, but her words struck a chord in her sister's boyfriend's mind.

He contacted one of his gang friends. The two managed to maintain their friendship, so he was more than willing to introduce Simon to a dealer on the streets (but only after he swore secrecy). It was a bit nerve wracking, but he managed to get home with a small arsenal. He then hid the weapons in a box the rest of his family knew as his _private _box; there was no chance of them finding the stuff.

"_Espero que nunca tengo que usar esas cosas_," he muttered as he shoved them back under his bed.


	4. July 4, 2013

{2:20 a.m}

Adrianna skimmed through one of the parenting magazines on the living room table, trying to calm herself down. The news report depicting the explosion in the city hospital was rather…off putting (horrific would have been a better word, but the mother refused to acknowledge that anything fearful could be happening so near to her family). She tried to call her husband immediately after the stream ended, but he didn't reply. Come to think of it…it's been a few hours since she'd gotten any sort of contact from him, hasn't it?

She took out her cell phone and clicked on the messages choice.

[To: Adrianna

From: Alberto

voy a regresar tarde. Te amo. Diga hasta manana a nuestros hijos por me, por fa]

Letting out an irritable sigh, she was about to put the phone down when she heard heavy banging on the door. Who would be visiting this late at night? As she got up to open the door, she brightened up as the possibility of it being her husband struck her (but if it's him, why is he knocking so loud?)

Before she could even reach the door though, it collapsed in front of her, with an unrecognizable man towering over it. She blinked, and panicked when the man moaned and started stumbling towards her. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed the nearest thing she could find- a fire extinguisher. He was in the kitchen less than ten seconds later, and she waited until he was close enough before spraying foam in front of his face. She ran to the man's left, climbing over the kitchen table in her way. Back in the living room, she looked for something, anything else more useful than what she already had.

…Nothing. Of course.

Then, as if things couldn't possibly get any worse, her oldest child chose to come out of his room blearily at that _exact _moment. "Mama, wha-ah!" His yawn quickly turned into a shout at the sight of the crazed man standing uncertainly near the kitchen doorway.

"Simon," Adrianna started. "I need you to-"

But he retreated back into his room before she could finish the sentence. _"Simon!" _she hissed in a whisper, so the man wouldn't be provoked. It didn't matter; he immediately let out a shriek and ran towards her. She screamed, overcome with fear to consider moving.

_Bam! _

Drops of blood flew from his head. The man dropped the floor, twitching and squealing but making no move to get up. Adrianna stared at the corpse (_dios mio, un cuerpo in mi casa, no puedo ser) _and then shifted her gaze up.

Simon stood in front of his room, his eyes wide and his hands trembling so violently they could barely keep a grip on the gun he just fired.

"Simon, _que…como..." _his mother struggled to form a sentence; there were so many thoughts buzzing in her head.

"I thought these would come in handy," he said resignedly. "I hoped they wouldn't be, but…"

He did not get time to finish his sentence since his siblings decided to join their brother and mother in the living room, probably woken up by the gun shot, their mother thought.

Guadalupe stretched her hands up in the air. "Ah, what is going on?" she mumbled, still half asleep. Her brother lowered his gaze, guilty. Killing someone, no matter how dire the situation, was never something to be proud of.

Her eyes roamed around the area and then landed on the corpse in front of her mother. She froze, and she started to spill tears. "No…"

She turned to Simon and noticed the gun still in his hands. "What the hell did you do?" She screamed. Her brother's expression darkened.

"He was trying to kill Mama!" He said, offended. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"You-You're lying! Papa would never kill Mama!"

_Papa? _

Adrianna looked once again at the corpse. _"Dios mio," _she gasped, her body beginning to shake with grief.

How could she have been so blind?

"You killed Papa!" Guadalupe continued to scream at her brother. Juan's eyes widening, he headed towards his Mama and grabbed the hem of her skirt. Adrianna's heart broke at the sight of her youngest looking so confused, and she grabbed him by his underarms in order to hold him in her arms. She whispered words of comfort to him.

_Your father has joined God in heaven…he loved you very much…We'll honor his memory somehow… _

"Mama."

Her oldest approached them, a second gun in his right hand. He offered it to her somberly, but before she took it she placed her hand on his cheek, trying to tell him what she couldn't say.

A single tear fell out of the corner of Simon's eyes, and he wiped it away almost impatiently. "We need to go," he said roughly, his voice tight.


	5. July 4, 2013: Part II

{2:23 a.m}

"Go?" Guadalupe repeated, her voice still high with grief and rage. "Go where?"

"Away from this fucking place," Simon threw an object towards her which she scrambled to catch. She froze when she realized he had given her a gun. She looked up at her brother with disbelief overlaid on her face.

He was really giving her a gun? The weapon that killed Papa?

Was he serious?

"I don't want this," she snapped.

"I don't fucking care if you want it," Simon retorted, going to their room quickly. He came out a few minutes later with the satchel P-Papa gave him just a few weeks ago. "Now come _on. _I don't think it's _safe _here anymore,"

"Wha-don't touch me!" Guadalupe almost screamed when he grabbed her wrist. She shook him off anf glared up at him. "Don't ever touch me."

If looks could kill, Simon would have murdered two people today.

"Ugh, fine, just walk!" He barked.

_I'm not going anywhere, _Guadalupe almost said, but one look at his face told her he would do anything to make sure she went with him. She grit her teeth and followed Simon and her mother out their apartment.

They weren't the only ones fleeing the building. Many of the other residents were hurrying outside, some of them with small luggage bags and other barely dressed at all.

"Where are they going?" Juan asked, looking at his mother with a tearful expression.

"No se, mijo." She answered absent mindedly, gliding her hand across his head in an attempt to comfort him.

"Where are you guys going?" Simon asked the other tenants, but no one answered. Frustrated, his mother put down Juan and marched over to one of them. Juan started to chase after her, but Guadalupe grabbed his hand and pulled him over to her. He gazed up at her pitifully-she wanted to cry. She thought of one her favorite jokes to keep the tears at bay, but the usual reflex of laughter didn't come.

Their mother returned a few seconds later. "The army's putting up blocks in the highway," she said. "Simon, you can get us there right?"

"Fuck me if I can't."

They rushed downstairs and out the building, and Guadalupe nearly fainted.

It was pandemonium. Cars were broken, smashed. Houses were burning inside the flames encasing them, screams filled the air. Guadalupe stared up at the sky. How did it manage to stay so beautiful and…peace inducing?

"Oh, _fuck!"_

Her observations were shattered at Simon's shout. Their car was among those ruined.

"Can you fix it?" Their mother asked.

"Do I look like a fucking _mechanic?" _Simon kicked the car, letting out a string of curse words not even Guadalupe expected of him.

"We're not that far from the highway." Their mother said in contrast to him. "If we hurry-"

"Mama!" Juan screamed.

A woman ran towards them, howling and gargling. Before Simon could reach for his gun he was grabbed by the woman who overpowered him, pinning his arms to the ground. Adrianna clambered for the gun she'd stashed in her pocket; Simon let out a painful yell. She undid the safety and shot the woman, who fell on top of Simon almost immediately. She was dead.

"Are you okay?" Guadalupe asked in spite of her lingering anger at her brother.

"Fine," he grunted. "except that bitch bit me." Indeed, there was a bite on his shoulder. It vaguely reminded Guadalupe of the bites she used to give him when she was little. The woman's bite was much larger and violent, however- she managed to draw blood.

"He needs a band aid," Juan mumbled. His entire body was shaking violently. Guadalupe put her hand on his shoulder.

"We'll get you to a doctor later," their mother assured Simon, who grumbled under his breath but complied. "Come on, let's go."


End file.
